Saturday, October 22, 2011

A lot of 'ya may have been wondering about what would happen to Derrick Burts, "Patient Zeta" of last year's HIV porn scare, and current poster boy for the condom mandate.

In case you missed it, last time here we chronicled the fact that some matters of criminal procedings might prevent Burts from attending a proposed panel discussion over at UCLA concerning the representation and protection of porn performers. If you remember, Burts was under an arrest warrant for violating not one, but TWO probations in the LA metro area, and it was seriously problematic whether he would be able to make it to the panel discussion.

And as it turned out, he was indeed a no-show on November 16th. The panel, though, according to tweets from Danny Wylde, who was one of the other panelists (NIca Noelle of the Adult Performers Association was there as well), was not nearly as mercurial as the last panel discussion they had, and not worthy of any breathtaking breaking stories.

That didn't prevent Burts, however, from making some news of his own.

Apparently, Derrick has been surfing the Internet and reading up on all the scuttlebutt regarding his behavior, because he decided to write an email to Cindi Loftus over at LukeIsBack.com, in which he attempted to, in his own way, clear the air finally about how he got infected with HIV while shooting gay porn during September 2010.

You will recall that Burts' explanations of how he got infected have pretty much changed with the Southern California weather. First, he claimed that he got infected in a hetero shoot; then he said that he was infected in a gay shoot with a condom, where the condom broke; THEN he slightly modified that story to say that there was no condom breakage, but that the other guy took off the condom and popped off on his back and butt, and some semen leaked into his anal cavity...and THEN he changed THAT to say that maybe it was a dirty and infected "cum rag" in which he wiped his butt off after the shoot was how he got infected.

Well with this iteration, the man also known as Derrick Chambers and Cameron Reid now takes a new tact. I'll just quote the email that Cindi posted to LiB in its entirity and let you marinate it for a spell.

You will notice that he figures he's addresses his letter to "Luke", as if he's unaware that the former Luke Ford is now in retirement.

Luke,

I typically don’t respond to articles that are written about me that are
industry insiders or industry blogs. I do however want to clear a
couple things up for you.

The reason I did not attend UCLA’s Porn Panel was do to the fact that I
was in Orlando Florida on vacation with my family. I have always made my
Facebook public for anyone to see, and I often post updates with my
where abouts.You are correct, I did attend my court hearing and I have a great
attorney taking on my case. As far as outstanding warrants in Orange
County and Los Angeles..those have recently been addressed. My warrant
in Orange County was due to an unpaid court balance that I was un aware
that I still owed for a wet and reckless I got almost two years back.
The warrant for LA was for failure to appear to my last court hearing to
give an update on my classes because again, I was out of state at the
time. I am in no way a hard criminal and I have a total of two
misdeameanors on my record.In case you were never informed, or maybe you didnt read the press
articles, Los Angles County Health Officials confirmed that I not only
worked with one, but two HIV positive performers that were confirmed by
my agency that I worked with. As a matter of fact, the Center for
Disease Control did a huge report on the entire issue and did an in
depth investigation.The way I contracted HIV was through Oral because I had gonoreah in the
throat at the time. Even AIM can confirm that I tested positive for
gonorhea and I was given a couple pills to get rid of it. I did a gay
shoot where testing was not required due to condoms being worn on set.
If you do your research you will find that you are three times more
likely to get HIV if you have an active std in your body. At that time I
had herpes and gonorhea.. Making it very possible to get it oraly.Regardless of how people think I got HIV doesn’t really matter. The fact
is that I got it, I could have very easily given it to other performers
in the industry before testing again, and testing is not enough.

I do take responsibility for my actions and of course I knew the risk of
working in this industry. I am doing great and I am making the most out
of my situation.To clear the record… AHF is not paying me in any way, and it is the
state that is paying for my medications along with the Ryan White
Foundation.Before posting stories please make sure you have your facts straight.

Thanks,
Derrick

Let us break it down piece by piece, shall we??

Yeah, right, Derrick...you bailed out on the UCLA panel because you were on vacation in Florida. Sure...I mean, you did ultimately resolve the issue of your active arrest warrants, but still...why schedule yourself to attend and participate on a panel if you aren't going to follow up on your promise??

Next...."an unpaid court balance"?!?!? Really, Mr. Burts?? Is that what felony burglary and laundering charges mean to you?? Especially when you are under TWO probations in TWO different jurisdictions?? That's pretty damn close to "a hard criminal" record there, D. Especially to those of us who have never committed such crimes.

But it's this latest and newest "gonorrhea of the throat" excuse that really gets me interested. Now, I do know that there is such a thing as throat gonorrhea, and it is somewhat possible for someone who has serious abrasions or throat infections (such as strep throat) to also contact STI's from someone who is infected via oral sex leading to swallowing spooge. Problem is, though...unless someone is deep throating to the extreme, isn't it pretty much a rarity for someone to become infected from oral sex?? And, if both partners in the act are infection free, then there should be really no issue whatsoever about oral sex being a possible risk of STI infection...right??

On the other hand, if in addition to doing gay porn shoots, you also happen to escort on the side and swing heavily with active gay sex partners who aren't so careful about protecting themselves, I'd guess that "gonorrhea of the throat" would be a much more probable threat for you.

But...who am I to question Derrick, when a far better person who has been on the case can do so.

Since AIM no longer exists — thanks to Mr. Burts’ buddies at AHF — it
would be rather difficult for them, at this point, to confirm that he’d
had gonorrhea of the throat.

But if he indeed had gonorrhea at the time of his last AIM test —
September 3, 2010 — and was given antibiotics, why did he still have it
more than 8 days later when he was shooting in Florida?

And if he was shooting scenes prior to the time the antibiotics
required to run their course, it was HE who was recklessly and selfishly
placing other performers at risk.

He writes, “Los Angles County Health Officials confirmed that I not
only worked with one, but two HIV positive performers that were
confirmed by my agency that I worked with.” That’s interesting because
Burts’ agent for the gay shoots he did in Florida was a Florida agent,
Howard Marr of FabScout. What was LA County doing investigating Florida
shoots?

The only valid reason for any LA County investigation would be
because Mr. Burts chose to shoot a gay sex scene after returning from
Florida, when he was at his most infectious, without bothering to update
his test at AIM (because gay shoots don’t require a current test). He
cared so little for the well-being of the performers he now claims to
want to help and protect that he placed another male performer — and
every other sexual partner — at grave risk by allowing his AIM test to
lapse.

Could it be that among those “Los Angles County Health Officials” was
Mr. Mark Roy “Wolverine” McGrath, who worked previously for UCLA and is
now employed by AHF?

And, why did Mr. Burts’ his agent book him to shoot with HIV-positive
talent? Maybe testing would have been a good idea. Mr. Burts, wouldn’t
you have liked to know whether your scene partners were HIV-positive?

Burts also writes, “Testing is not enough.” That’s an odd statement
to come from someone who CHOSE to have sex in a segment of the business
that does not test, but relies only on condoms. Wouldn’t it be more
logical — in light of the manner in which he claims to have contracted
HIV — to state “Condoms are not enough”?

How did he contract gonorrhea of the throat? Since it’s far more
likely to be contracted through fellating an infected male partner, and
since the gay side of the industry does not test for STIs, isn’t it more
than likely that he contracted it on that side of the industry?

IF — and it’s a big if — Derrick Burts contracted HIV while performing in front of the cameras, it was because of the glaring problems inherent in the wild wild west that is gay porn production.

So why isn’t Michael Weinstein going after the gay side of the porn
industry to push for a testing regime instead of forcing condoms on the
“straight” side? Because 1) he doesn’t want to (further) alienate AHF’s
base, 2) there’s more juicy mainstream press to be had by taking on
Larry Flynt and Steve Hirsch, and 3) condoms are an intrinsic part of
the marketing of AIDS fear and hysteria.

Finally, Cindi, I have to take issue with your statement, “the only
way to get the truth out is to talk directly to the person who is living
in the situation.” With respect, that is nonsense. Getting an email
from the subject doesn’t mean you’ll get the truth, it means you’ll get
his side. The twain often never meet.

In any case, Mr, Burts has answered none of the real, troubling
questions raised in articles published over the last month on various
sites.

Now...let's remember, Clones, that during that classic presser last September where Mike Weinstein, DBurts, Ministress Shelley Lubben/Jan Meza, Darrin James, and the rest of the Condom Mandate Army were so busy milking the latest HIV "scare" for their LA condom mandate initiative, Weinstein had made note that the Free Speech Coalition had damn well better stop "stonewalling" and hindering the "investigation" over that particular scare. (You know..the one which turned out to be a false positive??) Maybe DBurts got his investigations mixed up.

“The particular shoot where I think I may have contracted it was with
Bang Bros. Productions in Florida, Venetian Productions, for one of
their gay companies. When they did the cum shot, they pulled the condom
off and the performer pretty much did the shot on my back rear end, and
when that wiped off, I could have come in contact with that. So there’s
no knowing exactly where I got it….”

Here’s what he said in an interview published six months later:

“I did a shoot where I was riding [a co-star] on top, like a reverse
cowboy. He had the condom on and at the end pulled the condom off and
did the cum shot all over my butt and near my anus. I know that semen
came in contact with that area. This is just an idea of how I got it.
Either that or oral, because also the oral side of gay shoots is
unprotected and it’s not like normal oral. You are doing 20 or 30
minutes of hardcore gagging. The cum shot was in my mouth. [It turns out
that] I had gonorrhea in the throat during that shoot.

“When you have an active [sexually transmitted infection, or STI] it
makes it a lot easier for you to contract HIV. That’s something that the
public doesn’t understand. They say, “Oh, I don’t buy [his story]—the
chances of him getting HIV from an oral scene or from semen on the butt
are very unlikely.” And those chances are low—but [they’re higher] when
you have an active STI. I had not only gonorrhea in the throat but also
had gotten herpes [and chlamydia]. I gave this version to the media, but
I’m sure you can see why they omitted it—it was probably a little too
graphic.”

He tells two different stories at once, and like most con artists
(including Shelley Lubben), he takes a kernel of truth (or at least
events previously reported as true) — such as the fact that circa July
2010 he was diagnosed with those STIs at AIM and given treatment for
them — and places it in the timeline at the most convenient spot.
Burts’ original story was that he was diagnosed with those STIs one
month into his career. His career began in June. He most likely
contracted HIV in September.

A side note: as you know, AIM did not test routinely for herpes for
performers entering the industry. There’s no way to know, at this point,
whether Burts contracted it during other activities, like swinging,
prior to entering porn. In any case, turning up with that assortment of
STIs during such a short period of time — and where he made so few
videos — likely reflects the reckless lifestyle to which Burts has
already admitted (although he conveniently places it earlier in the
timeline).

I have to agree that Florida seems to be the wild wild west. The
recent Patient Alpha case, for example, demonstrates the problems
inherent in a decentralized non-AIM system combined with the reckless
nature of many productions there. The fact that Kaycee Brooks/Crystal
found much work in Florida several months ago is also string evidence.

Fortunately, as far as I can tell, Burts did only one post-infection
scene in LA (on October 6th), two days before his first positive test: a
gay condom scene as a bottom.

Of course, had Burts been a responsible person, he would have not let
his AIM test lapse and would have gone in to test on October 2nd
instead of October 8th — and the performer from that October 6th scene
would not have been placed at risk.

BTW, I LOVE Mr. Burts’ quote above, that he’s not a “hard” criminal.
He is in fact an extremely reckless individual — shooting porn and
escorting off Craigslist while he was working at a Christian Youth camp —
who’s now facing the toughest criminal charges of his life: FELONY
burglary and embezzlement. Let’s also not forget that he was originally
arrested on charges of DUI and Domestic Violence. He pleaded down to
Reckless Driving and Disturbing the Peace. And he’s violated probation
and blown off court dates several times.

I love his excuse for missing the UCLA panel and his court dates: he
happened to be out of state or on vacation. LOL I’m sure the judge
said, “Oh, why didn’t you say so…” What a conniving little douche
nozzle.

Fascinating that he's been chosen to be the stand-in example of the prototypical "victim" of unregulated hetero porn, and the reason why condoms must be shoved down performers' throats. Then again, consistency of principle hasn't stopped people like Michael Weinstein before when the principal (and the interest) matter, hasn't it. To recite a popular Daffy Duck phrase: "Frankly, it's not the principle of the thing....it's the MONEY."

Of course, Burts does have his backers...including one particular former performer who now claims that DBurts, along with Ministress Lubben and other fine proponents of the condom mandate, are the victims of a vast conspiracy of "stalking" and "harassment" which even goes as far as personal threats to their lives. Then again, this is the same performer who also flipped from prominent advocate for women getting into porn to fundie Christian talking open smack about "Satanic worship" in the porn industry...and who now is attempting to get her hands on the original Pornwikileaks database...all in the name of "truthseeking", of course. But, the story of "Not Sybill XXX" has already been told in another venue, and I don't want to tally too far here from the main story.

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Why yes, this blog is dedicated to pro-porn activism! With the belief that pornography falls under the auspices free speech and expression, and is legitimate entertainment for consenting adults, if made for and by consenting adults. One, as a consenting adult, has the right to make and view pornography as they choose.